Typhoon Saola has left 39 people dead and thousands of hectares of land under water in the Philippines, the government said, as the storm headed to Taiwan yesterday.

Two bodies were found floating in Manila Bay today, said Benito Ramos, head of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, with four others still missing after they were swept away by flood waters. There were 33 people injured.

More than half a million people were affected by Saola, known as Gener in the Philippines, and nearly half of this number were still in evacuation centers today, said Ramos.

Damage to infrastructure and the farming industry was initially estimated at 240 million pesos (US$5.7 million) which did not include the more than 4,300 houses destroyed or partly damaged by the storm.

Classes in primary and secondary schools in some parts of Metro Manila were cancelled today due to flooding as the weather bureau warned that monsoon rains would continue despite Saolaâ€™s exit north across the South China Sea.